Common/Party Walls

Started by BW • 4 replies • 2158 views

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BW (Colorado)
Posts: 28

Posted:

Our homeowner association is made up of townhomes with one common/Party wall between them. Our Declaration states that "each Owner's share shall be in proportion to their Lot's use of the pary wall" and "IF a pary wall is destroyed or damaged by fire or other casualty and IF the Association does not restore such wall with insurance proceeds or a special assessment, ANY Owner who has used the wall may restore it and MAY seek proportionate contribution from other Unit Owners". Now, If the common/party wall is part of the original structure (holding up the center of 2 connecting townhomes)and if one of the Owners did not cause the damage, why the "if" and "may" why not just say that the Association Shall repair the damage?

In another Article, the Declaration states" any structure on Lot is damaged, the Lot Owner will promptly repair & reconstruct to substantially (?) the same condition....the Association shall make available to the Owner any insurance proceeds received by it for such casualty. However the Owner shall be responsible for paying any deductible". Again, if the damage is not done by the Owner, why is the Association not responsible for ALL the cost of repair (proceeds from the insurance and the deductible?

Perhaps this is common Declaration writing ("Boiler Plate" stuff) but maybe someone could share their Declaration--the part covering Party Wall & Insurance--if there is clearer interpretation?

GloriaM (North Carolina)
Posts: 829

Posted:

BW:

From my understanding a party wall is a shared expense between the 2-Owners sharing the wall, not the HOA.

hoatalk (California)
Posts: 603

Posted:

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PaulM (Pennsylvania)
Posts: 1,347

Posted:

BW: I always believed a 'party wall' is built of concrete block and therefore cannot burn... Is yours built of another material?

If you are questioning your associations' insurance, perhaps the Board can answer your question on the party walls and does the Association have coverage for this on all townhomes?

As a homeowner, you probably have or want to purchase your own homeowners' insurance; they can advise you how/if the party wall is part of the policy. Same with the roof in a cluster of townhomes or a row of townhomes; the insurance company deals with this all the time and they can advise you.

BW (Colorado)
Posts: 28

Posted:

Thank you all for the replies. The reason for the question is that we are rewriting our Declaration & feel that the coverage of who is responsible for the common/Party wall is confusing. The common/Party wall is the wall that divides two twohomes.

Several Owners feel that the Declaration should state that the Association is responsible for the maintenance of the common/Pary wall unless damaage is caused by an Owner. This is the reason that I asked the question to see if we are just like all others or different.

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